


N.P. Wilde

by GreyCanidae



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Magic, Mystery, Old Gods, Other, Urban Legends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27556150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyCanidae/pseuds/GreyCanidae
Summary: Nicholas Piberius Wilde is an investigator and problem solver for an organization in charge of supernatural occurrences. Dealing with problems on the city limits becomes a problem when the police get involved.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48





	1. Just another day

Nothing can make you experience dead more so than going underground with no light. Not been able to see beyond 2 feet in front of you. Even hearing complete silence for the first time can become one of the scariest events that somebody could encounter. Yet, there I was, underground doing a job that most mammals will never know I’m doing. I’m not complaining just so you know, been down here away from hateful eyes is a nice bonus… I’m not saying that I never go up there either. I can’t live down here even when I like it. Most of my work makes me descent into the bowels of the city, but I still need to get up there for food and water. Plus living in constant fear of getting buried alive can’t be good for anybody’s physical or mental health.

*Splash*

Of course working down here also has his set downs. Like not knowing when you about to go into a puddle and get water up your knee and pants. I should get water proof gear if this job ever pays more than just enough to live by. I should avoid more puddles, but the splashing sounds easies my mind from the complete silence. Besides, it’s not like I won’t eventually have to get wet.

Eventually even the splash sounds go quiet, which tells me that I’m getting close to my goal. The organization received the reports of small quakes coming from below the city, quakes that are not “natural” to say the least. I was sent to investigate the occurrence as the last team that was sent here went missing. Why alone you may ask? Because the organization wants it as such. Although I secretly think they want to get rid of me, but I doubt that’s the case. How many mammals do you know that would go down into the vowels of the earth to investigate some weird stuff? I know everybody, and let me tell you… not many!

My movement got slower, seems like I’m getting super close to it. The water is getting denser now too. I follow the river to a white sand island. A rocky figure stood before me on top of the sand. A statue of some kind, with arms deep in the sand and a head deep buried on the ground above. There was no possible way to know what kind of mammal it was… or if it was a mammal at all. The chest was opened with some spherical object hanging. I approached it knowing what I had to do.

As if knowing of a new presence, the object started making a pumping sound, a sound that caused the dust and dirt to jump. Dirt and dust that took eons to set in were easily moved. I don’t know what color the object was, nor the liquid that came out of it. It was even darker than the liquid that was surrounding me a few minutes ago. For now I ignored the sound and came close to the object, still pumping more and more liquid. Between pumps, a language that nearly no mammal could understand was coming out of it. Once more, the dust and dirt flew with a gust of wing. The object convulsed, the cave shook unnaturally. Something came out crawling away from it. The liquid turned solid. It rose from the ground with invertebrate limbs, attaching itself to the sealing and the walls around it.

It was clear that what was in front of me was not from this realm or the next. It was outside of dimension, something that shouldn’t be here yet here it was. The limbs grew eyes staring at everywhere at once; to it I must look like a pebble in comparison. One step and one rock sound was all it took to focus on me. Every single eye focus on me, it felt as if a starry night sky stood before me with galaxies for eyes. It looked at me as if trying to comprehend what I was. Or what was the place it was in. It felt like looking at the eyes of a new born been amazed by the wonders of the world. The eyes scanned me till they were satisfied. Took out the book and read from it. As I kept reading from the passage, eye by eye kept closing; leaving only a starry night sky in front of me. The liquid went back into the object in the chest piece. The cave felt different now. I went back the same way I came in. I went through the dense water and outside the cave. Somehow it felt a lot shorter this time. I needed to report my findings to the organization… if only life was that easy.

“Hey fox! What you think you are doing here?”

The light from the police car blinded me. Then I noticed my body… it was dripping in blood. _Oh boy was this going to be hard to explain._

“hey officers, just walking around.” Still not sure who the officers were as the light of the car was still blinding me. “Can you guys turn off the light from your cruiser? It’s hard to see as it is, and that light is disorienting me.” I was thankful they did so fast, but now my eyes needed to adapt to the normal city night light.

“So fox, what you doing here?” They started approaching… it wasn’t surprising when both pulled their weapons. Wolves have a very good nose. They must have smelled the blood, and seeing as I’m talking easily and don’t seem to be in any sort of pain. It figures that I must have hurt somebody else. “ok fox, slowly walk here, both paws in the air.”

“Should I wave them I like just don’t care?”

“Shut up. Turn around and hands behind your back.” I did as order, worse things will happen otherwise. They took my backpack and then put on pawcuffs. “Want to tell us whose blood is that?”

“I don’t know.” I really didn’t, up to my knowledge it was just weird… goo thing and not blood. In fact, I didn’t smelled blood. Even now I don’t, I guess my nose got used to the smell as I was moving for a while on it. The boss is so going to let me rot in jail after this… “Went to explore the cave and fell into the water. After that I came out and found you gentlemen outside. By the way, what you guys doing here? This cave is really far from any major street.”

Both wolves look at each other before replying. “We received a tip of a mammal walking around the park on going into a prohibit cave area.”

“Right…” I looked at them knowing that fox was probably on the message before they omitted it in front of me, it’s nice of them to do that.

“Rick, be the big wolf and check the cave.”

“Why should I check the cave?”

“Because shut up. There should be a flashlight on the car. Get it and check the cave really quick. If we need to, we will call for experts.” Rick went to the back of the car searching for the flashlight. “So, before I look what’s inside your backpack… do you want to tell me what’s in there?”

“Giving me an opportunity?”

“You can call it that.”

I examine his face; see if there is anything that gives me some bad vibes, but nothing. He seemed honest. “There is a book inside, but it will be better if you don’t touch it or look at it.” He looks at me both amuse and curious to see what I’m talking about. I see Rick finally found the flashlight and is walking towards the cave.

“Why a book? I doubt a cave is a good reading place.” He opens up my backpack, and I I said, there is only a book in there. “No flashlight?”

“I’ve always had a good night vision.”

Suddenly a scream came from the cave. Rick came out screaming bloody murder and running faster than his body could keep up with as somehow his legs were in front of him.

“Call everybody! There are corpses, many of them.” Both wolves look at me.

“I didn’t see them.”

"I thought you had good night vision.”

"I do, but I didn’t see corpses. I saw darker water, but that’s about it. I didn’t know it was blood.” They look at each other before Rick putting me in the back sit of the car, not a good sign, and start calling for forensic teams, back up, the chief and possibly news programs.

I sit on the back of the car while I see every type of mammal come and go.

“I’m so screwed.”

* * *

It takes an hour before im send downtown to the police station for booking. Both my backpack and book come with me as evidence. I don’t know what sort of evidence is going to be… as I’m sure whatever killed the mammals in the cave was not with anything that this world could produce or make.

I’m waiting at the interrogation room for maybe another hour. I’m cuffed into the table and the chair. I guess I’m considered as dangerous. I don’t blame them; I would see any mammal dripping in blood as dangerous… especially not his blood. The door opens with nobody in sight.

“Hello?”

“Hi!” My vision is suddenly filled with a grey rabbit that looks way too happy. Of course, the sudden appearance of a rabbit caused to almost fall off the chair. Never though I would be thankful to be cuff to a table and a chair, but weirder things have happened.

“You shouldn’t be so quiet; you can cause a heart attack to the next mammal.”

“Sorry.” She seemed apologetic enough. She puts a water bottle in the table in front of me. “I though you would be asleep or something. I was just going to leave the bottle.”

Something felt off. Why would she leave that to somebody suspected of multiple murders and taking a bath in their blood? That’s my best guess on what they are going to try to charge me with. Not that they are going to succeed, but I have to know what I’m dealing with.

“Do you even know why I’m here?”

“No. Not really, nobody ever tells me anything.” Her voice sounded sad. “Since I don’t know, and doubt anybody will tell me anything, why you are here?”

“For multiple murders.” A strong booming voice came from the door. A big buffalo was standing right outside the door. I’m starting to wonder if stealth is part of the academy as I failed to notice his presence till he talks.

“Allegedly.”

“Not much allegedly when cops find you in the scene of the crime, covered in blood and your dna all over the bodies.”

“I fell into the water! How many times do I have to say it? I refused to talk till you at least give me my call.”

“Just save us the time and confess.”

“Chief, it’s on the law that at least he gets a call.” I was not expecting the rabbit to talk on my behalf to be honest. I looked at the rabbit as she talked, and then looked at the buffalo. I see his face going into multiple reactions at once, finally going for tired and angry at once.

“Fine, Fangmeyer!” The chief really doesn’t need a megaphone to make himself been heard as 10 seconds later I see a tigress at the door next to him. “Take mr. Wilde to make his call.” The tigress enters the room and takes out a key that frees me from the table and chair. I follow her as she takes me away. “Hopps, a word.” Is the last thing I hear him saying before he closes the door. Those rooms have nice sound suppressors the more I notice as I can’t hear him booming voice coming out of it.

I’m taking to side area with payed phones on the wall. I’m surprised those things still exist in this era. The tigress gives me a token and sits on a sofa chair close.

“Thanks stripes.” I can feel the eyes rolling coming from her.

Now to the hard part, I make my call’ knowing fully well how it’s going to go. The phone rings once before I hear the screaming from it.

“You stupid idiot!”

“Hey boss…”

“Don’t you _hey boss_ me! What happened?”

“I finished the job, and got pick up by the police I was coming out.”

“So the reports on tv are real? You aware how bad this looks and how hard it will be to take out off there?”

“Yes boss…”

“How bad is it?” resignation on her voice.

“I was covered in blood, didn’t know till the cops cast the car lights at me.”

“Got it, I’ll what I can do. Don’t create more problems while I get there.”

“Does that…”

“Yes includes you making everybody around you want to kill you on the spot! Just keep your snout close and don’t say or think anything. I’ll get there as soon as possible.” I back away after the sound of her hanging up. I feel like something like that doesn’t have the same effect with smartphones. I guess that’s why people still have landlines.

“Hey stripes, I’m done. Want to take me back?” The tigress just stood and followed as I made my way back to the interrogation room. As I did I see the rabbit from before heading out with a meter maid outfit. I guess her burst of defending me cost her a small punishment. As I get into the room, I see the buffalo and the two wolves that arrest me in the room.

“Fangmeyer, you are dismissed. Fox, Sit down.” The tigress leaves and once again I’m put on the chair cuff to the table. “So, want to confess?” I look the buffalo and then the two wolves and back at the buffalo. “I already heard both testimonies from the officers that found you and arrested you. It’s pretty open and shut case, we just missing your confession. It will save this city a lot of tax money if you confessed.”

“Allegedly, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Or my officers were in the right place at the right time. There was a report of a group of mammals investigating those caves after some unusual readings coming from under the city.” He shows me multiple pictures from all type of mammals. I look at them and then back at the buffalo. He lets out air from the nose and his eyes are laser beaming me to death in his mind. I can see his patience is getting thinner by the second… and I haven’t even said anything to make him mad yet! He takes more pictures out, this time of the cave lit up. I see multiple corpses or made up corpses bled to dead in the water. I’m surprised I managed to swim around all those bodies without touching them. Once again I’m not showing any reaction. What? I’ve seen worse thing all over the place. Bleeding corpses is not a pleasant view, but after seeing what I’ve seen; I wouldn’t put this on the top 10 of the worst scenarios. My silence however starts getting to them. He takes another file out, this time it has my picture.

“Nicholas Piberius Wilde. Age unknown, occupation unknown, and residence is an outback abandoned factory owned by you.” He says it without looking at the file, as if he memorized the whole thing. Not that is hard to do with so little information on me. “There are no records beyond that. What little information is on you and add the fact that two officers saw you at the scene of the crime. Pinning this on you will become so easy that no lawyer will defend you. They will just show up in court and not defend you at all. Confess and save everybody else time!”

This went on and on for an hour or two. With me saying little to nothing and they trying to get me to get angry and finally confessing. Somebody knocks on the door. The buffalo yells at the door. Another knock follows right after. The buffalo stands up towering over me. By this point it’s just me and the buffalo. The buffalo is quite stubborn, who would have guessed.

“I’m busy, it better be important.”

I can’t see who is behind the door as the buffalo covers the door with his huge body.

“Bogo.”

“Lionheart? What you doing here?” Somebody pushed aside the buffalo aside and look into the room.

“Are you Nicholas Wilde?” A well-dressed lion shows up at the door asking for me.

“One and only.” I answer with a grin.

“Bogo, let him go. Called the case closed and let your officers know not to say a thing about it.”

“What!? You can’t be serious. You aware what he did?”

“He didn’t do anything.” A smaller voice that I very well know by now comes in.

“And who are you?” the buffalo asks to the voice that’s coming behind the lion.

“Karmen, with a K. I represent Mr. Wilde and I have authority way beyond the city to free him. Now take away his cuffs.” Sometimes I wonder how she does it, been able to talk down mammals 4 times her size. The red vixen that is representing me right now is part of the organization, she takes care of any legal problem we might have… more often than not it’s about been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Again, this wouldn’t be a problem if the organization came out with what they know. Somehow she always makes me feel and look underdress.

“Hi boss.” I said almost hoping she will go easy on me.

“Don’t you _hi boss me,_ Mr. We told you not to go alone, yet you did it.”

“It was an easy job, besides…”

“I don’t want to hear it. Chief, if you don’t mind. We have other things to do.”

“No hold on. Nobody is leaving this place till somebody explains what’s going on. Who are you, and what authority is this beyond the city to be able to free a murdered from facing consequences.”

Karmen seemed to not be in mood to play around, especially with the buffalo. She simply looked at Lionheart. The lion simply put a paw on the buffalo’s shoulder as sign to give up. That was the thing about the organization, there was no possibility of going against it, a chief and a mayor could easily be replaced. An organization so high in the hierarchy was not. The buffalo look defeated, but took my cuffs away. I got my book and backpack and we left the precinct. We move towards a parking lot around the courner.

“Did you sealed it sir?”

“Now I’m sir? A few minutes ago I started to wonder who is the real boss.”

“You know I need it to play the part.”

“Sometimes you play it a little too well.”

“You are the captain, I’m just the one in charge of the legal problems that may rise… and by may I meant the ones that will.”

“Yeah, the organization has started to become more expose to the world as time goes. Eventually we won’t be able to hide it.”

“I don’t know if mammals are ready for such thing.”

“They are animals, adapt or die is on their nature.”

“Theirs?”

“Theirs. However, we should start by avoiding getting thrown in jail in the regular basics.” I get in her car on the passenger sit. Her car is a small and old orange beetle car. I put the seat belt and put my hands behind my back.

“What’s the plan then?”

“I don’t know yet.” I look at the side mirror of the car as we leave the parking lot. I see a small rabbit with meter maid outfit in it, putting a ticket on a windshield of a car twice her size. “But, I think a plan is coming together.” I smiled.

“Oh boy, can’t wait to hear about it.”

“Yeah, me neither.” The smile turns into a grin.


	2. Control

I didn’t know how to deal with this. I had to do something about what just happened. I freed a possibly… no, a definitely dangerous mammal into the city. All because the major told me to.

“Lionheart!”

“I know that you have questions. It would be better to talk in your office, away from other ears.”

“Fine.” I lead him to my office. Once inside, I closed the door behind him. By the time I turned around he was already sitting in the chair.

“I don’t know much. How long did you have Nicholas Wilde in custody?”

“2 or 3 hours before you showed up to free him.”

“I see. They work fast. Ms. Karmen was in my office around 2 hours ago.” He took a file from his suit and pushed it across the desk towards me.

“What’s this?”

“Their credentials.”

I opened up the file. The first page was a discolored piece of paper that seemed to have seen better days. The second thing I noticed was the texture of the paper, it felt like nothing I touched before. It felt harder than normal; moreover I don’t remember when was the last time I’ve seen actual calligraphy on ink in a file. The calligraphy almost seemed artistic. This, however, only distracted me a little bit before my anger returned. The top of the page had Institute of Super Natural Occurrences.

“Is this some kind of scam?” I asked Lionheart, the veins in my arms became visible.

“Keep reading.”

Besides the tittle of the ‘organization’. The paper described what kind of job they would take; from simply investigation of supernatural origins to actual scientific events with unknown origins. I kept reading, getting angrier as I kept going. Seeing nothing but an over elaborated scam. At the bottom of the page lied a total of six names.

**Agents:**

**Nicholas Piberius Wilde**

**Finnick**

**Skye**

**Karmen**

**Melvin**

**Chris**

“What is this?” I looked up towards Lionheart. Not caring that only Wilde had a complete name compared to the rest of them. Not caring enough about that for the moment.

“Like I said, their credentials.”

“What kind of sick joke is this? How could you made me let him go with just this as proof?”

“Ms. Karmen arrive to my office 2 hours ago, what do you think I was doing this entire time? This precinct is a 15 to 20 minute drive from my office in city hall. I made some calls.” He lean in over my desk and turned to the next page. This page looked relatively new compare to one on top; moreover it seemed to actually be computer printed. “Those are names and numbers from the top of the food chain.”

“I never liked animal analogies.”

“It’s the best way to say it and I’m not joking. I called those numbers and check with some acquaintances how much of it was real. I selected random names and numbers. They are all correct. ZBI director, president, Supreme Court, and anything that file says. It’s all real.”

I sit down, trying to digest what all these organizations were thinking when they signed up such bill and credentials for this group.

“This doesn’t make sense. Why would they do something like this? Or why not going public on it? Those foxes must have some blackmail on everybody.”

“That could be, but all of them?”

“Ok, maybe not everybody. Just the big fish on the pond.”

“Now look who is doing the animal analogies.”

“Not now. Is there something I could do to stop them?”

“It’s better to let it go Bogo. If they have this kind of backing, there must be some true on what they do.”

Even when he says it, I can’t seem to relax. There is no such thing as super natural occurrences, especially not in the city with so many cameras and mammals walking around. The technology now makes it impossible for such a thing to: one be missed by more eyes, and two to go unreported. Lionheart stood up, I offered him the file back; but he simply shook his head side to side.

“Keep it, I’m sure you going to need it more than I do.”

“What am I supposed to do? The bodies and murders will hit the news soon; they know I had a mammal, a fox, as suspect.”

“Tell them it was a mistake, and that Mr. Wilde was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He left as he finished the sentence.

What was I supposed to do? I can say it was a mistake, even when I don’t believe it.

*ring ring ring*

“Clawhauser, what is it?”

“Chief, I have a call from a Mr. Wilde. He was asking to talk to you.” It took a lot of self-control not to break the phone, desk and office in seconds. “Put it through.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hello? Chief Buffalo is that you?”

“What do you want fox?”

“That’s not very nice Chief Bogo. I’m trying to help you with the reporters. I’m sure they will have some questions.”

“How you know about that?”

“Not important. You should receive an email soon. That should have the questions and answers that you will give during the conference.” I felt lost at such statement.

“What… what do you mean?”

“I made some calls and I’m giving you a freeby as sign of good will. They will ask you those questions and you will answer exactly as the email says. You will look good, the department will look good, and you won’t have to worry about any repercussion.”

“Are you blackmailing me? Is that how you got those credentials and bills passed?”

“You hurt me, chief. No, I’m simply trying to help you and to be prepared for what’s to come. That’s all. Read the email and answer the question in the conference. That’s all.”

The line went dead after that. It was a moment of silence in the office. No sound what’s so ever. Seconds and minutes passed. I was left alone thinking on what to do. If the organization Wilde belongs is actually real, and from what Lionheart has shown me. They must be powerful mammals. Having control over the press doesn’t seem so farfetched. A sound from my pc broke me from my thoughts. Just as Wilde said, there was an explanation with questions, answers, and even time slots showing what went down there before my officers showed up to investigate and arrest Wilde. The answer was something that Wilde was talking about during the entire interrogation. He was down there investigating the quakes that were anomaly registered when he fell on a puddle that ended up been mixed with blood. When he came out the officers arrested him for believing to be a suspect in the murder of all mammals that went missing not long ago. The reason why to be found this time was that they were so far away from where they were missing. That last part wasn’t completely wrong. They went missing close to the west entrance of the underground area, yet where both officers found Wilde was in the opposite side.

‘This might work after all.’ Besides, finding what happened to a group of mammals that disappear is good. Just see the positive things. I don’t need to overstress in everything. I kept reading to see what else I was supposed to say… then I saw what the final question and the final statement was going to be.

**Q: “What caused the accident in the in the cave?”**

**A: “We still don’t know. We think there might be some mammal underground, but we need to explore the caves before we can come up with a conclusion.”**

**Q: “Is the police sending a team to explore them?”**

**A: “The ZPD will send a private organization to explore the cave. The organization wishes to stay anonymous, but we will be sending an officer with the organization to make sure nothing goes wrong… or another ‘wrong place, wrong time’ happens.”**

**Q: “Have you decided on who is going with this organization?”**

**A: “We decided on Judy Hopps.”**

That last line… echo over and over again in my head. My body started to vibrate. I press the intercom, attempting to control myself from destroying it and my desk with it.

“Clawhauser?”

“Yes, chief?” He sounded scared, must have felt my anger through the phone.

“Call Major Lionheart and put him on the line.”

“Yes, sir.”

He must have something to do with it. There was no other explanation to it. It made the more sense, that’s why it would explain why he suddenly agreed to help them.

“Sir, Line 1 is with the mayor.”

“Bogo? What happened now?”

“Did you have something to do with it?”

“Something to do with what?”

“You know exactly what! I received an email from Wilde saying that Hopps will help in the investigation of the deaths in the caves.”

“Really!?” I was caught off guard on the sincerity in his voice at asking. Almost as if he didn’t believe it himself. “Well, it was about time that she would start doing something else besides meter maid… which I still don’t know why you keeping putting it in that.”

“It’s for… that’s not important. You really didn’t have anything to do with it?”

“Why would I? Bogo, I can’t go over your command and make you do something like that. Up till you called me, I wasn’t aware of such thing.”

“Ok, thanks.”

“Why I’m been thank for?” I can feel the smug through the phone.

“Bye.”

If he didn’t have anything to do with this… then it click. Hopps was talking to Wilde before I got there.

“Clawhauser!” I screamed enough for him to hear me even if he was in another building across the street.

The intercom immediately dials towards my office. “Yes… chief?” Fear on his voice was something I will have to apologize after.

“Send Hopps as soon as she comes back.”


	3. Eyes Closed

I completed my goal, I love my job, and I work hard to maintain it.

*Ding*

Another park meter goes off. I don’t know why I keep trying at this rate. No, don’t think like that. Keep yourself up. Eventually chief Bogo will show some sympathy and give me an opportunity. Although that was thrown out as soon as I helped that fox with some water… and his call, I guess that set me back to zero. I wonder if he still there. The way the chief talks, I’m sure he will ask for mercy for everything to end quickly.

I put the ticket on another car. This makes it the hundred for today. I’m going to take a quick break and eat something at the station. The chubby cheetah would probably be eating the second lunch with some extra pastries on the side.

“Hey Claw… what?” He opened his eyes wide. Something was wrong from that reaction.

“I should be asking you that… the Chief wanted to see you.” He said pointing upwards to Bogo office.

“Did he say what was it this time?”

“No, but he sounded furious to me. He simply said that when you came back to send you upstairs… alone.”

“What you mean alone? Who would be with me?”

“Don’t worry Judy, I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“You say that, but last time I had parking duty in Tundratown.”

“That time, they had low numbers of new recruits. The other precincts also sent new recruits.”

“But only I showed up…”

“Which Bogo made everybody else do double turns as punishment for not following orders.”

“But most already have a partner and doing patrols now.”

“Well Judy, you are the only one on your size category. We can’t put you on patrol alone.”

“Yea, I guess that’s true. Anyway…”

“HOPPS!” I could feel the building actually shaking.

“You better go now… it just going to get worse if you wait.”

I never thought possible to do the walk of shame in the day. The walk up the stairs to the chief’s office felt like a mile long walk going uphill on a sunny day. Finally made it to the office… which was open already, not a good sign.

“Close the door.” Second not good sign. “Sit down.”

I jumped into the chair. They should add a little staircase for small mammals.

“How is you day officer?” Third not good sign.

“It’s a normal day, chief… sir.”

“Good, normal is good.” He was smiling, but at the same time it felt super fake. I don’t feel like calling out on him out of respect and fear to know the reason behind it. “Officer Hopps, do you remember the fox this morning in the interrogation room?”

“Yes sir, what about him?”

“Well, before I got there. What did you two talk about?”

“We started to talk when you arrive.”

“Did you two meet before today?”

“No, sir.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir. Sorry sir, but what is this all about? I don’t even know his name.”

He rose from his chair. Looked me in the eyes, as to see if I was lying. “Mr. Wilde, that’s his name, is free of charges for the bodies we found early morning.”

“Oh, that’s good…” he glared at me. “Isn’t it? I mean, it’s a good thing that we didn’t arrest the wrong guy.”

“Right. I don’t know if he is completely guiltless, but I had to let him go after no hard evidence against him.” His face twitched when he said that. There was more to it, it was obvious, but I rather not to his bad side immediately. “There is going to be a press conference in a few hours. Make sure you are there. Most will be explained there, and I rather not explain it twice.” He sit down back in chair, he looked defeated for some reason.

“Ok chief. I’ll be there.”

“Good. Dismissed.”

“Yes sir.” I hopped down and left the office.

That was weird, why would he called me so angry and yet he seemed to be defeated by the end of it. I guess I’ll get me answers at the press conference. Right now I should just eat lunch; I can worry about that after.

* * *

I wasn’t expecting the final line of the conference to be what it was.

“Officer Hopps will be joining the special investigation. No more questions for now until the case is closed.” He left the podium after such revelation. I attempted not too jump on triumph and simply left the room before the reporters knew I was in the room. Of course, after I left the room I was jumping up and down in the hallway.

“Hopps, my office, now.” Not wanting to cause more anger from the chief.

“Thank you chief.” I said as I was following close behind.

“For what exactly?” he didn’t even slow down a bit.

“For this opportunity, I started to get worry you would never do it.” There was a small buzzing sound coming from my pants. Took out the phone and I did a quick glance to see parents on the screen.

“Shouldn’t you pick that?”

“It’s just my parents. I will call them after today’s shift. Oh boy a special investigation! Thanks you again chief!”

He looked down at me with a serious glare, but he didn’t say anything. We passed the front desk where Clawhauser gave two thumbs up with a full smile on his face. He was probably watching the press from his desk. This time, the walk back to the chief office felt different. He opened the door and let me in first. He closed the door and walk around towards his chair.

“Sit.” I was already sat before he said it out of pure excitement.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” I started vibrating in the chair.

“Hopps…”

“When do I start? Who am I working with?”

“Hopp…”

“Thank you again, have I thanked you enough yet?”

“Hopps! This wasn’t my idea.”

“What?”

“I don’t know who you going to work with. Besides Wilde and maybe his lawyer, I have no clue on who the rest of his team are.”

“but, you said to the press..”

“Hopps, this wasn’t my idea. I don’t even know whose idea it was. That press conference was just a show. I was told to read and answer the questions following a script.”

“Chief, isn’t that illegal? What about…” a ding distracted both of us coming from the chief computer. He read it with his eyes only. He turned white with wide eyes. He started to look around before focusing on me.

“Hopps, they will pick you up tomorrow around 8 am. Show up for morning briefing before that like usual. Don’t talk to anybody about what I just told you. For the public, you are simply joining for a special investigation.”

“Chief, what did the email say? What’s wrong?” another ding distracted us.

“It’s better to not know Hopps. Just be happy that you will be given an opportunity to do good for this city.”

“Is it even legal?” a third ding.

“Everything is legal, you don’t have to worry about that. I can guarantee that much to you. If you still feel bad about this by tomorrow morning, I could talk on your behalf to have other officer assist you or go in your place.” There was legitimate concern in his voice, but at the same time, he didn’t show confidence and what he could and couldn’t do. He gave the feeling of a mammal going blind on an unknown place.

“No, I’ll do it. I need to show I can do the work. I won’t disappoint you, sir.”

“Ok. Dismissed. Finish your shift now. Go home and rest, again not a word about what we talked about.”

“Yes, sir.” I salute and left the office.

* * *

Since my shift was over. I should just get something to eat on the go, call my parents and call it for today. I sent them a message to not worry and that I was going to give them a call once I make it back to the apartment. I talked a little with Clawhauser before heading out for today. I picked a vegetarian dinner plate at the quickie market and head home.

“Oh wow, the bunny cop is here early. What happened? did you get fired?” My neighbors could be more supportive to be honest.

“You couldn’t be more pessimistic even if you try!” both of them could use be less than that at this point. I’m starting to think they play coin toss to see who is pessimistic for the day, since I’ve heard their ‘support’ words before.

“Hey Bucky and Pronk. No, I didn’t get fired. I was given the rest of the day off because I have a special assignment tomorrow.”

“They promoted you from meter maid?”

“No, I was just given a case. I start tomorrow in the morning.”

“Was the case that thing on tv?”

“I can’t say anything on an open case.”

“And like that, she has confirmed it. Congrats on your assignment bunny cop.”

“Hey! I wanted to congratulated her first!”

“Too bad, already did it. Plus it was just turn to be pessimistic.”

“No, it wasn’t!”

“Yes, it was!” they closed the door, not like it helps on the silence as I can still hear them in my apartment.

I put my dinner on the table and make hopefully a call without any chaos with my parents. The phone rings maybe once before they immediately pick up.

“Hi mom.”

“Honeybun! Stu, get here. Judy is on the phone.” It takes two seconds before dad shows up next to her.

“Hey, jude. What is this about you working with a special organization? “

“Straight to it?”

“We just need to know you going to be safe?”

“I can’t tell you guys everything about the case. I don’t know much about the case yet besides what you already heard on the news.”

“I see.” My mom shows some concern and I don’t blame her.

“But do you think it might be dangerous?”

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you. I’m a cop, danger is part of it. So this would be just another case.”

“But you were a meter maid not long ago.” Of course they would remind me of that. “Isn’t this too suddenly?”

“It’s been a month since graduation, and I was finally given a change to do something besides writing tickets. It wouldn’t hurt to be a little supportive.”

“Sorry, honeybun. You know we are proud of you…”

“…and worry!”

“…But still proud.”

“I know guys. I’m going to eat dinner, take a shower and hit the bed early. I want to make a run tomorrow before work.”

“Ok, Jude. Calls us again tomorrow. We want to hear how it went.”

“Ok. Love you guys.”

“Bye Judy. Take care.”

Silence hit me again. I put the dinner in the microwave for 60 seconds.

“They sound really supportive.” And the silence is gone.

“They sometimes are.”

“Be careful out there. You never know when you going to encounter a psycho.”

“I know, thanks guys. It’s nice that you care.”

“Of course we care. You are our favorite neighbor.”

“I’m your only neighbor. You guys keep driving away everyone around you.”

“That automatically makes you the favorite… and it’s Pronk’s fault. He is too loud.”

“No, it’s you the one loud!”

“No, you!”

I press the stop button on the microwave to avoid having it beep insanely, not that like it would make a difference with these kinds of neighbors. I’m glad Clawhauser recommended me that quickie mark. This looks like an actual dinner compared to others I’ve been unfortunate to eat. I finish dinner while watching a movie on my phone. Left the phone charging and took a shower at the end of the hallway. I wish there was a shower in each apartment, but the shower room stays relatively clean. By the time I’m done, it’s 8 pm. I put ambient music on my earphones and sleep for the night. “Tomorrow will be better.”

* * *

I get into the precinct around 7:30. Clawhauser is already eating a box of donuts with a cup of coffee. He offered me a donut to congratulate me on my special investigation. A pair of wolves, probably from the nightshift, looked over me and whispered to each other. I get into the room for the morning briefing. The room goes silent as soon as I go in. Everybody stared at me.

“I don’t remember my team ever been this quiet. Hopps go to your chair.” The chief was right behind me, but the room felt weird. “The patrolling will stay the same as yesterday except for one team. Fangmeyer and Wolford will be replacing the lookout team at the crime scene from yesterday. Rhinowitz and Francine will switch with you after lunch. Hopps, stay behind for your assignment. Everybody dismissed.” All officers stood and left, I still noticed them giving me a quick side glance at me as they left.

“Hopps, how you doing?”

“I’m ok chief. Just excited for the assignment.”

“Nothing has changed from yesterday? You can still backout if you not feeling…”

“No chief. I’m ok. Just ready to make the world a better place.”

“Ok.”

“Hey chief. Officer Hopps.” A third voice in the room surprised us both.

“Wilde.”

“The one and the same. Just in time too.” The fox from yesterday was standing at the door with a silver pocket watch that he puts on the front pocket of his shirt. An awful looking green Hawaiian shirt. “Just to pick up officer Hopps.”

“Chief?”

“Hopps, this is…”

“Nicholas Wilde. Everybody calls me Nick. Nice to finally meet you, officer Hopps.” He moved closer and extended his arm at me.

“We already met yesterday. Judy Hopps.”

“But we didn’t give each other our names, did we?” He smirks as he said that. We shake paws. “What does she know, chief?”

“As much as I do.”

“Not much then. Let’s go Hopps.” He wink at me and started heading out.

“Wilde, hold on. I have some questions.” The fox stopped and looked back at the chief. “Why her? I have more experienced officers capable to assist.” I know he is trying to get information, but throwing me under the bus like that, although I understand where he is coming from, still hurts. The fox does a quick glance at me and then turns to the chief.

“The team is low size compare to the big guys you have on this precinct, the entire ZPD for that matter has only big hitters. Am I wrong?” The chief glares at the fox. “We don’t have gear for big size mammals. Hopps here, we have gear for her size. We also have transport for her size. I can’t afford or want to get a car to take an elephant in.”

“What kind of gear? We might have something.”

“Chief, this is not up for debate. I’m taking Hopps. End of discussion. Hopps, let’s go.” He left the room.

“You better bring her back safe.”

“Don’t worry chief; I take care of my mammals.” He said from outside of the room. His voice was getting farther and farther away. I sprint to catch up to him. He was walking towards the entrance. I gave a goodbye wave to Clawhauser and followed him.

“So, where we going?”

“Right now? Let you meet the team.” As we walked outside a van with a very artistic paint job on the outside was waiting right outside.

“about damn time Nick, what took you so long?” a small fox with big ears was in the driver sit.

“Yeah yeah yeah.” He knocked on the side door of the ban. The ban opens to a white vixen wearing a black shirt and pants. “Let me present you the other two mammals you will be working. The cranky with short fuse is Finick.”

“Screw you Wilde.”

“Hello.” I wave at the driver. He simply nod at me.

“Skye.” Says the vixen as she extends her arm. We shake paws.

“And this is Judy Hopps.”

“We know, we watch the news compared to other mammals.”

“I have better things to do than to read the newspaper.”

“Nobody uses the newspaper anymore. We told you to get the news on your phone already.”

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Nick gets into the ban. “Ready to make this city safer?” he rose his fist at me. I looked at the three foxes. Some sense of acceptance growing in me coming from them.

“Yeah!” I cover my mouth as I wasn’t expecting to come out as a yell. I fist bump him and get into the ban.

“That’s the spirit.” He closes the side door. “Finnick, let’s go.”

“Where to?”

“The cave.”


	4. Set up

I don’t know what I was expecting from a van with an artistic outside… but high tech van was at the bottom of the list. The opposite side from the door had a full on computer with multiple monitors and what looked like radios. The backside had some sort of storage unit. A sofa was next to where I was standing. I had enough space for three small mammals to sit.

“You alright?”

“Yes, Mr. Wilde. Thanks.”

“Then, have a sit and it’s Nick. How are you with reading in a vehicle?”

“What you mean?”

“Well, cranky pants over there…”pointed at the fox on the driving sit which was now looking through the mirror back at us. “…Will have a problem if you throw up in his van.”

“That’s right. You will never hear the end of it, don’t you forget it.”

“There is no problem, I don’t get dizzy easily.”

“Then, here you go. You should start by reading this.”

“What’s this?”

“This is the coroner’s report on the cave’s murders.” He said as if it was normal having something like this at hand. “Before you ask, it’s legal. We are investigating the case and this information is needed. Plus, you are with us; you can’t assist us if you don’t know at least this much.” I started reading before he points at cause of death.

“Blood loss?” I read out loud.

“That’s right, they bled to dead. However look at the back.”

I turn at the page. Following the general information from the first page and cause of death, there was the diagram showing all the injuries they suffered. This is when the case became weird. None of the mammals in the report showed any injury on any of the bodies. They were unscathed. The confusion showed in my face enough for Nick to look me with a sympathetic smile.

“I know this looks weird, but the coroner is not wrong. These mammals died by blood loss. Somehow, they bleed with any injury. That’s what this organization is going to investigate.”

“By organization you mean.” I looked around at the three mammals, the one driving and the two around me.

“We are just a division.”

“What does this organization do?” both foxes tensed up a little bit at my question.

“Before I answer that, what’s your stand on… supernatural events?” My skepticism was obviously clear on my face, together with a confusing one.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well… that’s what we investigate…”

I don’t know in what kind of situation I let myself put into. Something is for sure; I can’t share this with anybody… specially my parents. The rumor mill would run so fast that I’m sure zootopia would hear about it day one. I will be the laughing stock for my entire life. I can already see my brothers and sisters creating joke at my expense whenever I decide to visit the farm.

“Hopps?” Nick started moving his paw in front of me side to side. “You ok? You looked like a deer in headlights just now.”

“Hey! That’s speciest!”

“It might be. Regardless, that was an interesting reaction. I was half expecting you to laugh at us.”

He was not wrong. “And the other half?”

“Anger.”

He was not wrong about that. In a level, I’m disappointed that my first actual case is nothing and more than likely a scam.

“This isn’t a scam Hopps.” He smiles at me with both compassion and understanding eyes. I almost feel my mind been read… but I guess my face is way too expressive. “This is an actual investigation. We just do it from…” he moves his paw in air. “…Another angles. You read the dead certificates. This is not your usual case file, so we need to be creative to solve it. In this instance, we need to start by going to the cave and do our own research as the coroner office and ZPD more than likely missed.”

“This isn’t a scam, Officer.” I hear the vixen next to me. “Believe it or not, we all been in your position before.”

“Even Finnick.” Nick points at the driver sit.

“Give us a chance. I’m sure you can enjoy this little investigation.”

“Of course you can always go back to parking duty. “

“How do you know?”

“I saw you yesterday. It’s partly the reason why we asked for you.”

“What’s the rest of the reason?”

“Secret.” He winked at me.

“Hey Nick! Get in here. We have a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“A tigress and a wolf.” He points at the two officers that are coming towards the van. I guess we made it to site faster than I though.

“Hey, it’s stripes!”

“Stripes?” I wasn’t the only one asking.

“Sorry sir, this area is restricted…” The tigress froze as she saw us.

“Hey stripes, how you doing?”

“Hello Mr…”

“Wilde, but everybody calls me Nick.”

“Mr. Wilde, what you doing here?”

“You know the fox, Fangmeyer?”

“Not really, but he was arrested yesterday.”

“Come on stripes, I was simply detained. I f I was arrested, I wouldn’t be here today. Anyway, we are here to investigate the murders from yesterday. You can call the chief if you don’t believe me.”

“Sure. Wolford, can you check with Clawhauser about it?”

“Sure thing.” He walked off.

“While they are doing that, let’s get the equipment on the ground. Hopps, and Skye let’s go. Finnick set up the camera.”

“Yeah yeah. Do you mind us moving the van closer to the cave? It will make it easier to get everything down.”

“I can’t let you guys do that until I get confirmation from the chief.”

“Come on stripes, you heard yesterday conference that a team was going to investigate it instead of the ZPD. We are that team.” While doing so, Wolford returned and simply nodded. Fangmeyer moved out of the way.

Skye opened up the storage in the back together with the backdoor. Finnick took a camera that I’m surprised he was capable to carrying with the big difference in size between them. He let it down next to the van. Skye and Nick both carry these weird looking poles, at simple glance they looked like parking meters.

“Hopps, there are two more inside. Can you bring them with you?”

“Sure.” On closer look, they were clocks with only the minute hand and the numbers around it.

I took the two that were in the storage when I notice Skye and Nick setting up the poles a few feet apart from each other. They set up a total of six poles. All in diagonal direction towards the van, Skye then went inside the van and brought multiple cables connecting each pole to one another. Meanwhile Finnick was finishing up setting up the camera pointing towards the cave.

“Make sure you have all six poles and the cave, Finnick.”

“I know what I’m doing, Nick. Not the first time I set up a camera.”

“Hopps, come here. I need help carrying the power source.” The bottom part of the storage had what looked like a huge motor. We tried to move it together… but it was useless. It didn’t matter how many groans we made while attempting moving it.

“I knew we should have brought Chris for this.”

“Told you so.”

“Shut up, Finnick.”

“Idea. Hey stripes! Can you help us moving this?” Fangmeyer looked at Wolford, Wolford simply shrug. Fangmeyer let out some whisper that I couldn’t hear and started walking toward us.

“What you need?”

“Move this close to the camera. We can set up the rest.” She lift the motor like it was a piece of paper and let it down next to the camera.

“Thanks, stripes. You a stand up gal.”

“Whatever.” I could see she rolled her eyes as a smile crept on her face.

“How you doing there Finnick?”

“Almost done. Just need the power source and we can start.”

“Skye?”

“Almost done.”

“Ok, now Officer.”

“You can just call me Judy. As I see you are on first name basis with everybody.” He looks at me weirdly for a moment. As if he is trying to decide on something.

“Judy then. Let me explain what your job is going to be. Skye and I will go into the cave to get some samples and investigate it. While we do that, you and Finnick need to check the monitor and the poles every 15 minutes. This…” He gave me a clock. “…doesn’t leave the van. No matter what, never let it leave the van. Every 15 minutes. You will walk towards each pole and write down where the minute hand is.” The clock looked really old fashioned. It even had a winder in the back. “If you have any question ask Finnick.” Skye and Finnick seemed to have finished setting up everything.

“We done, Nick.” The power sourced seemed to be solar based as it didn’t emite any sort of noise and was simply there connecting to all the poles, camera and the van itself… I’m guessing for the computer inside to avoid using the van’s battery. Both Skye and Nick went to the back of the storage again and took two backpacks.

“Finnick, while we are away. You in charge.”

“G, what an honor.” He sit down in front of the computer inside.

“Judy, see you guys in a while.”

“Take care.”

“We always do.” Skye wave a goodbye with a smile and a wink. They went into the cave, I eventually lost sight of them as they got deeper into the dark.

“Don’t worry, this is not the first time going into a cave.” He moved forward towards the clock and gave it a few turns at the winder. “Now we play the waiting game.”


	5. The Cave

I’ve never been a fan of caves. They are dark and disgusting places, but this is part of the job. I still question how much of this is actually legal. They already did investigate it, so they missed the most important part of this case. The supernatural that Nick already dealt with as I didn’t see him picking up the equipment necessary for sealing back at home.

“Now that we are alone…”

“Skye! No! what would your mother think?”

I punch him. ”You know my mother! And that’s not what I meant, you jackass!”

“yeah, I do…” he suggestible moves his eyebrows up and down. I punch him again. “…and not a jackass, I’m a fox.” He laughs as he rubs his arm.

“Or so you say.”

“Of course I am, and I know your mother…. Just not that way.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s not what I wanted to ask though.”

“I know. Ask away.”

“What’s the deal with the bunny?”

“There is no deal.”

“Don’t play with me. There must be something for either you or the organization to have her work with us.”

“Not really, but I guess you have a point there. For now, it’s just to avoid getting caught again.”

“You just don’t Karmen to bust your ass out.”

“You heard about that, didn’t you?”

“Hard not to, you could hear her screams all over. Why her tho? I’m sure there were more seasoned or veteran cops that could have assisted us more.”

“That’s true, but she tried to help me when I was in custody. I saw her later get reprimanded too because of it.”

“You’ve always had a thing for damsels in distress.” He eyes me with a smirk. We stay a little bit silent for now.

We’ve been walking for a while now. I turned on the flashlight as my night vision is not as good as Nick’s. The cave seems to be like any other we’ve gone too before. It’s hard to imagine this cave housed multiple corpses not long ago… and the supernatural thing that Nick already dealt with. I know he is next to me, but even then it feels really earie down here. The quietness is also very uncomfortable. I can’t believe Nick was down here by himself. He suddenly stopped and lowered his backpack. He signaled at a wall on the other side of the shallow water. He grabs my paw.

“Put on boots, I made that mistake last time.” He takes out the boots and puts them on. I do the same. They easily cover a good portion of our legs. The water feels weird as we make our way towards the white sand on the other side. The sand seems undisturbed. It also feels out of place. The coast is nowhere close to it, and this is the only sand anywhere in the cave. There was dirt but this doesn’t feel the same.

“Get a sample of the sand and the wall. I’ll take the pictures?”

“You’ve always been better than me at taking pictures. Make sure to get the river too.” He nodded as he said it. I take the camera out and put the flash on. The camera is very old school; you can even hear as it switches to the next shot. I took a picture looking away from Nick as he is kneeling on the sand. I hear the brush he is doing to the sand towards a small container. The cave seems to be far going even deeper. From here, it looks to be endless. The second picture is towards the wall. I still don’t see what Nick is capable to see. He says there is something on the wall. I don’t’ see anything, but a rocky wall. I guess he really did deal with the problem, but we still need to investigate. There is been an increase in events within the city.

The third picture is towards the exit, which much to my surprise… seems to be endless too. It’s lucky that I’m here with Nick. Otherwise, I would be really scared right about now. I hear some chiseling from behind me, Nick is taking Rock samples now. I turned around… just to find nothing. Even the chiseling went quiet as I turned around.

“Nick?” I hear no response. In fact, it has gotten quieter. I look back towards the exit, then back towards deep in the cave. “Nick, this isn’t funny.” I don’t hear anything else. I take a few more pictures, the flash illuminating around me. The camera produces a sound as I take each picture, but that’s the only sound I can hear. Eventually, even that goes quiet. I look down at the camera, but I don’t see anything wrong. I shouldn’t panic; this is not the first time that something like this happens around Nick. I pull out a pocket watch. Nick always says to have one at hand. Mine is emerald green. I open it up to see completely frozen. So, it’s just a matter of time before this ends.

I turned back towards the wall Nick pointed out early. Something was standing right on my face, a big dark figure with 6 sharp glowing eyes looking at me. The head was bigger than the slim hunchback body stance. The eyes had a glowing purple color on them. It didn’t seem to have arms, but two moving wormlike things were on the chest part.

If you’ve watch a horror movie, there is always the horror trope of having the mammal completely and overly paralyzed when they encounter the creature. Many mammals laugh at such cliché, not knowing that it’s there for a reason. The first thing that happens if your body getting cold, the second thing is been paralyzed and not been able to breathe either. The next thing is your eyes going wide; attempting in vain to make whatever is in front of you smaller than it actually is. Finally, if you are not dead already, you can start moving. Your legs are the first to react… one at a time causing you to fall on your tail.

The figure leans towering over me. It’s getting closer to my face. I close my eyes.

“Skye!” makes me open my eyes immediately. Nick is kneeling in front of me shaking me from my shoulders. “What happened?”

“I don’t know… what did you see?”

“You kept taking pictures one after the other. Then you stopped moving then you fell. Didn’t matter how much I yelled, you weren’t reacting. What did you see?”

“A figure, a black figure with six eyes.” He looked me over, then look behind him at the wall, then back at me.

“You have the pictures?”

“I think?”

“Ok, let’s get out of here. I have the samples.” He stood up and helped me back on my feet. We picked everything back and made our way back to the exit.

“I thought you dealt with it already.”

“I did. I’m not sure what you saw, but what you described is nothing like what I saw that day.”

“You think…”

“I don’t think so. I don’t feel anything from that night. What’s the last thing you heard?”

“When you chiseled at the wall.” He looks down then back at me. Eyeing me before answering.

“Maybe it was a defense from what I already sealed in there, but I’m not sure. Don’t make a big thing out of it, it’s not the first time nor the last at seeing things like that.” He smiles back at me.

“I know. It’s hard to get used to some random unexplained creature.”

“Doubt anyone could.”

“You seem to do just fine.”

“I’m me though, don’t overthink it.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Good, that’s my girl.” He starts petting my head until I push his paw away.

“Don’t call me your girl!” I push him with half a laugh.

“It makes you happy.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“It does, the traitor behind you told me.” I look behind just to be ashamed at my tail moving side to side.

“Damn it. So, you already dealt with the problem in the cave. The question still stands though, who woke it?”

“Not sure yet, but more cases are happening in the city and the intervals are getting smaller and smaller.”

“At least we get a bonus every case.”

“Yeah, but I rather have less money than cases and danger around every corner.”

“You just don’t like working to earn money, do you?”

“You know me so well.” I can see him smiling as he closes his eyes. “I also want a quiet life.”

“What you thinking?”

“I don’t know… a farm life or forest one.”

“I can totally see you farming, with how the home is set up. I can see you as a farmer for a small plot of land.”

“Yeah, that would be nice. The city has its charms. But a peaceful life is also tempting.” I can see he is serious when he says something like that. But on this line of duty, substitutes are hard to find… especially for someone like him.

We walked in silence for some time. The sunlight from outside finally reached us. Somehow the way in was shorter than the way out; I looked at Nick with a side glance, but he doesn’t seem to be thinking the same. Once we make it out, the bunny cop is in front of the time poles. I guess she really takes the job seriously, even when she doesn’t know much yet. Maybe a little too seriously as I see her taking multiple glances at each clock before noting it down. I wonder if anything happened while we were gone… hopefully, Finnick didn’t do anything weird or dumb. On a quick glance, I see other cops on the side. Maybe the turn of the tigress and the wolf was over.

“Go with Finnick and eat something. I’ll pick up the poles.” I see Nick going towards the bunny cop. Inside the van seems to everything being the way we left it as.

“Hey Skye.” He salutes me with two fingers.

“How was it to be the one in charge of a little bunny.”

“You don’t wanna know.” He grabs the wooden bat that he somehow always keeps at arm's length.

“What did you do?”

“Me? Why you always think I’m the one causing problems!?”

“Because that’s how Nick found you.”

“Hey! That fox got me in more problems that I had to fight to get us out of!”

“That’s what you say, but where would you be if it wasn’t for him, now?”

“Probably working a regular job without having to worry about getting kill all the time.”

“So a boring life?”

“Yeah, a boring life.” I smile at his sincerity from his words. He never likes to admit, none of us do, but we all like this job. Even if it gets scary sometimes, we still enjoying working on making the world safe. But God save us if Nick ever hears of it.

“We should start packing up.” I hear some rambling coming from the side of the van.

“Whatever you say, carrots.” Nick makes his way to the van with the poles and puts them in the storage.

“Stop calling me that! It’s demeaning!”

“It’s your fault for using that cute pen of yours. Where did you even find that? I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“In Bunnyburrow…”

“Figures.”

“What you mean by figures?”

“I’ve never seen one before, and I’ve never been in Bunnyburrow. Therefore, figures.” I can see Nick is antagonizing the bunny cop already.

“Don’t overthink it, officer. He does that to everybody.”

“I still don’t like it.” I see her inflating her cheeks like a rodent… was not aware that rabbits could do that too.

“You don’t have to. Finnick, anything happened while we were gone?” I see Finnick do a quick glance at the bunny cop and then towards Nick… something definitely happened.

“Nothing worth mentioning.”

“Great. Let’s pick things up. Save everything.”

“What do we do now?”

“Well, Carrots. We need to give the samples back to our lab, while they run tests we will do some more research as to what exactly… I don’t know yet. Any guesses?”

“We could do cams at the entrance park, maybe we can find suspects that way… although that might already be back in the precinct. Not sure how we would get it though.” She looks down as we all look at her.

“Well thinking Carrots. Don’t worry about the how, let the how to me.” He then looks back at us. “What you guys doing? I said to pick things up. We need to move while there is still sun.”

We finish saving and storing everything back. I see Nick is reading the bunny cop’s notes. It finally came to the problem with the solar power source that we needed the help of the tigress cop to move. Of course, Nick had a solution. Request help from the new cops to move it back. The elephant lady, of course, it had to be the lady one, helped us move it back into the van. We finished storing everything.

“Back home?” I hear Finnick ask from the driving seat.

“Back home.”


	6. The Cave part 2

15 Minutes

I leave the van towards the poles. I check each time a couple of times before writing it down. Then move towards the next pole and repeat it again. I don’t understand what’s important about these, but they mostly mean something if I was asked to do them. The small fox is inside the van sitting in front of the monitor. I check on the side and I see officer Wolford talking to officer Fangmeyer. They seem to have a conversation before taking a quick glance in my direction.

I go back into the van. The small fox, Finnick I think it was his name, is still sitting in front of the monitor. He does a quick glance at the clock that was in the dashboard in front of him, and then back to the monitor. We stay silent for the most part.

15 Minutes

I walk outside again to take the time. Before I walk towards the poles I notice that both officers are now standing outside of the car. I don’t pay it too much time and simply walked towards the poles. I don’t understand why they need multiple clocks or even the camera recording, but there must be a reason. Once I finish I go back inside. I sit on the mini sofa looking at him from the back. We stay silent again until it’s time for me to check the poles.

15 Minutes

Once more I walk outside. Wolford was standing next to the van looking at the camera.

“Hey, Hopps. High tech gear you are working with.”

“I guess. Although not sure what everything is for.”

“You don’t?”

“I don’t, I’m just checking the time numbers every 15 minutes.”

“HEY! Not talking about the work.” Finnick yelled from inside the van.

“Who is that?”

“That’s the one Nick left in charge while he is inside.” I moved towards the poles annotating them.

“Let me guess. You don’t know anything about these either.”

“Nope.” Writing the times for each pole. They all seem to be going at the same pace.

“You changed one-meter maid for another.”

“It wasn’t lost on me that I was doing that.” I knew what this looked like. I just didn’t want to say out loud.

“I guess you are right.” He moved away from the poles went back into the cruiser. I finished up the numbers and I walked towards the van. Finnick was still there sitting in front of the computer. This time I didn’t want to stay silent while waiting for the next 15 minutes.

“Finnick right?” He simply looked at me and nodded. “Can I ask you something?”

“You already did, but shoot.”

“What’s all these? Are we actually doing something is this just a façade to the actual real work going on inside the cave? Am I just a token bunny-like at ZPD for this group too?”

He looked at me as evaluating me before answering. “It’s not much, but we are actually doing something important. We need to keep tracking records of everything that we do and investigate. Let me see your notes.” He extended his paw. I gave him the little notepad. He looked through them fast, not that hard to just look at times. “This is good. It means that nothing is wrong and whatever happened in the cave is over.” He returned the notepad to me.

“So, what we do actually matters?” I attempted to sound not as skeptical, but it still came through with the way I sounded.

“Yes. You don’t have to worry about it. Also, don’t tell them what we doing here. We can’t trust them.”

“They are ZPD officers, we can trust them… can’t we?”

He looked at me and simply moved to the radio machine next to the monitor.

**“Chief, Hopps seems to be out of the loop for whatever they are investigating. She seems to be outside to take notes of these weird parking meters. She does it every 15 minutes. No, it’s useless to try and get answers from her. I’m going to try to get some answers from whoever is inside.”**

He cut the transmission then.

“Don’t trust them. At least not about this case.” I don’t how I should act after that kind of revelation. I was stunt, confused, angered, and a little disappointed. It sort of made sense for them to investigate this sort of organization. However, they didn’t show any kind of hope towards me for the time I’ve been working there. I had yet to patrolling with anybody. I kept getting parking duty.

15 Minutes

It marked the clock again. I took the notepad and myself outside once more. Wolford was walking towards the back of the van. This time, he ignored me as I walked towards the poles. The minute arrow seemed to be slightly moved… I better bring this up with Finnick. Only the first pole seemed to be different. It was a minute, maybe two behind? I made it back to the van just to see Wolford walking back to the car, that didn’t take long.

“Hey, Finnick, one of the poles showed a minute or two behind compared to the rest.”

He looked at me and extended the paw. He checked my notes. “Only the first one?” I nodded. Went to the monitor and rewind it a little bit. He started typing on the keyword; he seemed to write something like a note within the video.

“So, what does it mean?”

“Could be nothing, could be something. I’m not sure yet, but if more of the poles start acting up…” He stayed silent for some time.

“What?”

“Nothing, let’s hope nothing bad happens.”

We stayed silent until it was time for me to leave and check the poles again.

15 Minutes

I saw the cruiser leave, which was weird. They were supposed to leave around lunch. A new cruiser came back with an elephant in the driver seat, Francine I think it was her name. I walked towards the poles and took notes. This time all the poles had different times. It was hard to figure it out by how much. I went back into the van just to have Finnick talking with someone on the phone. He noticed me.

“What happened?”

“The poles, they are all different.” He extended his arm again to see my notes. “They should be coming back soon.”

“How you know?”

“Whatever they did or touch inside must have caused something. Nick doesn’t risk things when he is with somebody.” I wanted to ask what if he was alone, but I decided not to. We stayed silent again, but I noticed Finnick was a little inpatient.

15 Minutes

I went outside. I was writing any change, but all the poles seemed to have reset back to cero. Then I noticed the silver vixen walking past the poles and into the van. I turned around and see Nick standing behind me.

“What’s that?” He pointed at my pen, a pen mind you was in a carrot shape.

“A pen?”

“That’s so cute, Carrots.” It took a moment to register that he was calling me carrots. Not to mention the fact he said the word cute.

“Hey! Don’t call me carrots!” He moved towards the poles, disconnected them, and started carrying them towards the van.

“Get the others, Carrots. We are done here.” He walked towards the van.

“Stop calling me Carrots!” I took the rest of the poles.

“Whatever you say, carrots.”

“Stop calling me that! It’s demeaning!”

“It’s your fault for using that cute pen of yours. Where did you even find that? I’ve never seen anything like that.” He sounded actually curious.

“In Bunnyburrow…” I didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Figures.”

“What you mean by figures?” I didn’t want to sound as angry, but that sort of answer got to me.

“I’ve never seen one before, and I’ve never been in Bunnyburrow. Therefore, figures.” So that’s what he meant by that…

“Don’t overthink it, officer. He does that to everybody.” The vixen said it with an endearing smile.

“I still don’t like it.”

“You don’t have to. Finnick, anything happened while we were gone?” Finnick did a quick glance at me follow by looking at Nick.

“Nothing worth mentioning.”

“Great. Let’s pick things up. Save everything.”

“What do we do now?”

“Well, Carrots. We need to give the samples back to our lab, while they run tests we will do some more research as to what exactly… I don’t know yet. Any guesses?” He actually seemed interesting in my answer. Might as well go by the book.

“We could do cams at the entrance park, maybe we can find suspects that way… although that might already be back in the precinct. Not sure how we would get it though.” I look down after noticing all three look at me.

“Well thinking Carrots. Don’t worry about the how let the how to me. What are you guys doing? I said to pick things up. We need to move while there is still sun.”

While we all start storing and saving everything. I see Nick is looking at my notes. Hopefully, they are good and it’s exactly what he wanted me to do. He seemed content with the notes. We finish storing everything, with help of an elephant.

“Back home?” I hear Finnick ask from the driving seat.

“Back home.” Says Nick as he sits on the copilot sit. I stayed on the back with the silver fox who seems to be eating a bug protein bar. It was a long drive away from the cave. We left downtown and moved towards Sahara Square. Never been outside of downtown or Savanna Central; however, I remember looking at it as I went past it. It has a completely different feeling. The van moved towards the big Palm Hotel. The building easily towered the entire district, and I bet it could be seen from all Zootopia. Before reaching it, the van went off-road.

“Where we going?”

“Home, I own a property, a factory of sort, in the outbacks of the city. This is the only way towards it… well not really. More like the safest way.” The trip took less than 30 minutes from the Palm Hotel. We cross a stone bridge and I can see the factory Nick mentioned. It looked rusty from the outside. I can’t imagine what it would look like from inside. “There used to be a train station long ago close to this place. It was used for mammals to work in the factories close by. The track still there, but it was reused for the railroad coming from the burrows. I’m sure you rode past it when you came to the city. Now, only my property is left standing, the rest were either demolished or were reused for apartment buildings.”

I know he kept referring to it as a factory, but the more I look at it. It looks closer to a Hanger than an actual factory. Maybe it used to be a storage unit. As we approached to the main entrance, I see that quite tall wolf stood next to it. He waves his paw, something Nick answers with a wave from the window. He opens the entrance which the van goes in. Inside looks closer to a receiving area for a grocery store. There are many shelves holding car parts, from old used pieces to brand new parts. We all open the doors and get out of the van except for Finnick. He simply walks over the sofa inside the van and crashes there with zero intention of moving it seems. A red vixen was waiting on a platform close by. She was wearing a blue vest open in front showing a white shirt and skirt showing only the lower part of the legs.

“It was about time you showed up.”

“Too much traffic.” Nick answered.

“Yeah, right.” The wolf was closing the door using a chain in the inside of the building. He was definitely a tall wolf towering easily over Skye and Nick. He was wearing a white shirt and blue pants. The pants were either overused or had stylistic holes.

“Good thing you are here Chris. Here…” Nick threw his backpack at him. “…brought you something. Start working.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have.” He grumbled before heading deeper into the building.

“Is this her?”

“Yeah. Carrots, Karmen. Karmen, Carrots.”

“Nice to meet you, officer.” She extended her paw.

“Call me Judy for short. Nice to meet you too.”

“Come on, let’s go. It’s time to eat and I’m getting hungry. Is Melvin back?”

“He should be printing what you ask for. I’m going to start preparing lunch, in the meantime, Skye, take Judy to the backfield to help you pick ingredients. And you Nick, the bosses asked you to call them as soon as you made it back to discuss the investigation.”

“Got it, I’ll do it now. Tell Melvin to bring the stuff to the Diner once he is done.”

“Aye Aye captain.” Karmen made a mock salute and then went inside followed by Skye and Nick.

“Hurry carrots, you gonna love this.” I hate the nickname still, but I follow them inside. I don’t know what I was expecting… but an amusement park inside this building was the last thing I had in mind. My jaw dropped at seeing it. “Welcome to Wilde Times!”


	7. Wilde Times

I was starting to think that I should stop been amazed at this group. From the van to the amusement park, it was a surprise after the other. Although the amusement park had what it feels like old rides, the place seemed to have been maintained to its prime condition over time. The main thing that you could see was the huge clock on what might be the center of the factory. It was a clock fully working with rusty stains in some parts, but overall it looked in great condition. The wolf entered what looked like an infirmary? The building had a red cross in the front.

“It was kept close to the main entrance in case they needed to rush to the hospital for one reason or the other,” Nick answered my question. I guess I was looking at it for a bit too long. “That place now is more of a lab than an infirmary.”

We moved through the building towards the clock. On our way, we went past an arcade corner, but it didn’t seem like any arcade game I’ve ever seen. They all looked really old, but again, in good condition. Next to it was one of those track racing competitions where multiple people would sit to attempt and win a prize. There weren’t any rewards or prices to show, which made me think it hasn’t been used in some time. Next to it was a shooting gallery. I approach it as the guns didn’t look familiar from other festivals or amusement parks.

“Careful, those have a lot of kick on them.”

“I’ll have you know I graduated as number 1 marksmanship.”

“Oh, this I gotta see. Let me turn it on.”

“Nick, you have a meeting!”

“Come on, this is going to take what, 10 minutes? I’m sure they can wait that long.” He moved behind the counter and into the backside. Some seconds later and the place turns on. It had music and everything… really old music too. “Ok ladies, step right up and win this valuable plush doll worth hundreds of hundreds of hours to make.” He said as he held a weird looking ball with two lines for eyes.

“Didn’t know you made that one again! Oh, I’m so in.” The silver fox got into a sit immediately after seeing the prize. I took the seat next to her. I had to stand up on the chair to reach the gun.

“Sometimes I feel like the people I work with are all just kits!”

“You are just mad you never win!”

“Ok, I’m in too.” She sat on the right side of the silver fox. She looked determined and ready.

“The game is simple, hit the most targets.” He does a snap with his paw and the ducks started moving left and right. “We going to do 1 round, so make it count! Carrots is orange, Skye is blue, and Karmen is green.” As he said he put a magazine on each gun. “Ready!?”

“Ready.” We all screamed.

“Set! Go!” he moved to the side just in time and paintballs started flying all over the place. After a few minutes of shooting it was over. We were all out of ammo. The ducks stopped moving all painted in different colors. Some of the ducks had more of one color in them. The match ended with 7 orange, 6 blue, 3 green, and around 10 or so undefined.

“Damn it!” The red vixen yelled as she stepped aside.

“Congratulations carrots! You get the super prized and overly worked on plush doll! Exclusive to Wilde Times.” He gave me the one color ball plush.

I looked to the side at Skye that was eyeing it. “Do you want it?”

“No, sharing! Skye has enough of those in her room. She usually wins.” Nick went behind the shooting gallery turning it off.

“I’ll be in the Diner, Skye go with bunny cop to pick fruit for pancakes. I’ll start the kitchen.” She went away not before telling Nick to go have the meeting.

We went towards the back of the factory, passing along the way, by the clock. The clock was standing on top of a fountain. Once we reach the end, Nick separated and went into a small two floors building with windows for the upper part of it. We meanwhile went through the backdoor towards a big greenhouse that was outside. There I saw all kinds of vegetables and fruit crops. We got a basket and picked different kinds of fruit. We made it back and walk towards a Diner… an actual Diner; like the kind you see at a truck stop but it was inside the factory. The building looked out of time; however, it captures the attention of any looker. It wouldn’t be hard to bring mammals in when the park was fully operational.

Inside stood a new fox, joining multiple tables to turn it into a big one. He had a backpack with him. He started laying papers on top of it when he noticed us.

“Hey, Skye and bunny cop.” I’m starting to think foxes have a thing for nicknames.

“Judy this is Melvin, Melvin this is Judy.”

“Pleasure to meet you.” We shook paws.

“Same.”

“Skye, bring the fruit back here!” She took my basket together with hers to the kitchen.

“What you doing?”

“Nick asked me to get some papers from downtown and the team in charge of the topography of Zootopia.” On the tables looked like multiple underground and land maps. “So, bunny cop, how’s your first day with our little group?”

“It’s been good so far, but I haven’t done much besides keeping watch of some clocks.”

“Yeah, you would be surprised how weird some jobs or assignments can get. Regardless, for as small as a job could get, everything is important. A clock needs all its pieces to work, right?” He says as he shows me a pocket watch that he took out from his pants. A black obsidian pocket watch. He puts it away before kneeling down towards his backpack.

“What’s that?”

“A projector, there is a limit to what paper could do and this just makes it easier to work. Nick is just stock in his old ways. Would you believe it wasn’t until last year that he got an actual smartphone? And even then he refuses to use it beyond call and texts!”

“Stop saying secrets from Nick, you know what happened last time that you did that.” The wolf was back. Melvin tensed after hearing that.

“Are you done testing the samples?” Skye joined us back.

“The machines are running, we should have the answer in an hour or two.”

“What about the footage and notes?” she looked at Melvin.

“Haven’t had time to look at it completely; however, there is definitely a time-lapse. The notes and video aren’t matching.”

“What you mean by that?” my question made the 2 foxes and wolf look back at me.

“Sometimes with paranormal occurrences, time-lapse desynch can happen. Meaning, time can either go faster or slower for a certain area while everything else is different.” I could feel my eyes growing big and wide.

“You joking?” the silence in the diner grew.

“We are all serious in this job, bunny cop!” it came from the kitchen.

“She is not joking, believe it or not. This is not a joke. What I watched was around 30 minutes of footage but you show up once near the end. You were taking notes every 15 minutes right?” I simply nodded at the question. I would need to look at myself to fully understand it. “You will see soon.” He gave a few pets at the projector.

“Everyone come and help me, pancakes are ready.”

“Why it’s always pancakes with her.”

“Because that’s all she can cook.”

“I heard that!”

We all pick a plate with 2 or 3 pancakes on each and one big one with multiple on them. We sat at one of the tables close to the big one Melvin was working on.

“How are all my favorite foxes and vegetable officer?” Nick arrived, but something made me eyed the wolf.

“What’s wrong?” they all noticed me.

“Are you a fox?” He was mid-bite and stunt by my question.

“Believe it or not, he is indeed a fox. He is a genetic marble, isn’t he?” Nick took an extra place and took two pancakes before moving to the big table with the papers.

“How?”

“Genetics, somehow my parents managed to get old genes to awake on the pregnancy. Because of that, my body is much larger and I’m also much stronger.”

“He also eats a lot more!” Nick yelled from his table which caused all of us to laugh much to Chris's embarrassment.

“That’s really interesting.”

“It is, it really is.” He gave some more chews at the pancakes. The rest joined in silence chewing. “Nick, how is it going there?”

“Figuring it out… I think. It just doesn’t make sense… unless…”

“Here we go.” They all rose with the plates in hand and walked towards Nick.

Nick had two maps in front of him. Both maps were titled underground. He took a marker and put an X with the lines West entrance. The second X he wrote Cave. “The tunnels don’t have any sort of connection to each other, yet the mammals went from here…” he draws a line between both X’s “…to here. Melvin, when you asked for these maps, did you notice anything?”

“Honestly? No. They guided me on how to get them from their website, but nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Did you get the report of the disappearances too?” He moved towards a side where a pile of papers was stacked on in a corner. There were also multiple files on the side.

“Everything is here. But I didn’t see anything wrong on it.” Nick revises them. “What you thinking?” He made a scramble on top of the West entrance and left the one that we were in with just an X.

“The underground tunnels, what can you tell me about them.”

“They cover a good portion of the city with some of them going into other districts. And the cave one goes…” he put a claw on top of the cave and move north of the city. “…Between Tundratown and the Rainforest district.”

“Are there public entrances on those districts to the tunnels?” I asked.

“Depends on what you define as public access. Rainforest uses the tunnels as a means for water drainage from the artificial rain the sprinklers produce; for the most part, they either end on lakes or ocean. Tundratown is a completely different thing that cave goes under the ice. And it’s hard to get to it add that to cold water and it makes it impossible for most mammals to even attempt getting close.”

“So our best bet is Rainforest?” Karmen voiced her question.

“For now, it is until we get our hands on the cam footage,” Nick replied and looked back at Melvin. “Did you get it?”

“What do you think?” Melvin smirked. He then connected a laptop to the projector. “Lights.” Skye moved to one side and turn it off.

“I took a looked at the footage of the West entrance in the park. None of the mammals ever showed up in any camera surrounding it.”

“How did you get this footage?” I asked.

Their glowing eyes in the dark looked at me. “Not important,” they all answered in unison.

“Thought so.” The silence grew in the room as we all seem to try and figure out what could possibly be the answer. “What can you tell me about the cave?”

“No camera close to it, it’s a blind spot.”

“Before the cave?”

“There is footage of the street before it, but the entrance towards the cave is a full-on blind spot.”

“So we have no footage of that either.” Dead end on multiple paths.

“How about our footage?”

“For what little I watched. There is video desynch compared to the notes.”

“Can we see it?” He opened a few carpets and show the footage outside the cave.

“Is that time in the bottom right?”

“You mean the 3 hours in it? Yeap. told you. Freaky isn’t it?”

“What time-lapse would resynch them?”

“Only one way to find out.” A few minutes later and the video showed was sped up. “It seems like twice is the answer.” I couldn’t believe it. The video originally seemed to be at a normal pace, but it didn’t match the 15-minute intervals that were meant to be there. When Melvin sped up the footage it now matched the 15 minutes that I was taking notes on. This could also explain why Wolford and Fangmeyer left earlier than I thought, their shift watching the cave was over and they must have received a message by radio.

“This could be residue from yesterday night.”

“That’s possible. We would need to go into the cave one more time if we were to determine it.”

“Nick, What did you do in the cave?” I asked.

“I sealed… something in that cave.”

“Shouldn’t it be safe if you already sealed?”

“These… things don’t awake just because Judy, this thing was awoken and it’s our job to find out why and stop it from happening again. Right now our only leads are the mammals that died and the tunnel going north of the city. We can explore the tunnels tomorrow, for now, Karmen bring the whiteboard… everybody pick a file and start reading we need to find a connection between these mammals.”


End file.
